Method of making seams for shoe-soles



F. N. LA CHAPELLE.

METHOD OF MAKING SEAMS FOR SHOE SDLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAYII. i9l8.

Patented Feb. 17,1920.

Fig. 2.

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

FRED N. LA CHAPELLE, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIG-NOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATER-SCN, NEJV JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OE MAKING- SEAIF-ES FOR, SHOE-SOLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1920.

Application filed May 11, 1918. Serial No. 234,002.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED N. LA CHAPELLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Methods of Making Seams for Shoe-Soles, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings inclicatinglike parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to methods of making seams and more particularly to methods of making connected seams especially for attaching shoe bottoms to shoes.

The invention has particular utility in attaching articles together wherein one of the articles to be attached is of a comparatively non-fibrous character. For purposes of illustration the invention is herein shown as embodied in a method of making seams to attach rubber or so-called fiber soles or heel treads to the bottoms of boots and shoes. Owing to the comparatively non-fibrous texture of a rubber or fiber sole considerable difficulty is experienced in attaching it to the shoe by the customary thread seam because the thread tends to cut into and in some cases pull through the sole, particularly unless the stitches are a considerable distance apart and are formed under a substantially even and minimum tension which, of course, is detrimental to strong and serviceable attachment of the shoe bottom to the shoe. In its illustrated embodiment, the invention is also well adapted for use in shoe resoling work since it can be practised with commercially satisfactory results without the necessity of equipping repair shops with the usual sewing machines which have heretofore been found necessary to attach rubber soles to shoes.

An object of this invention is to provide a method of making a connected seam which will possess all of the desirable characteristics and qualities of a sewed seam and which is particularly adapted to the attachment of a non-fibrous shoe bottom to a shoe more efficiently and with greater facility than heretofore.

In one of its aspects, and as herein illustrated, the invention consists in attaching a sole to a shoe by forcing successive loops of a strand into the sole and anchoring the loops to an underlying portion 0f the shoe by metallic fastenings inserted through the loop hole in the fiber tread piece and straddling the loops. Preferably the loop anchoring fastenings are in the form of wire staples and as herein employed to attach the sole to the shoe they are clenched on the inner side of the innersole to increase their holding effect.

In order to minimize the size of the hole made in the sole by the insertion of the staples and also to enable a seam utilizing metallic fastenings to be made which will not interfere with the flexibility of the shoe the staples are preferably as narrow as it is practical to employ and have them straddle the strand of thread successfully. In consequence of this and by forcing the successive loops of thread partially through the sole as an incident to the insertion of the staples which straddle the loops and then clenching the staples on the under side of the work, the double thicknesses of the thread at the points where they are looped in addition to the heads of the staples form a series of individual peg-like fastenings which are wedged in between the outer surface of the sole and the inner side of the material to which the sole is attached, whereby the sole is efi'ectually prevented from being pulled off even after the exposed portion of the thread connecting successive holes, in which the staples are driven, is destroyed duringthe wear of the shoe. A seam made in this manner possesses all of the desirable features offered by a sewed seam and at the same time it can be made, even in rubber or fiber soles, without employing a sewing machine.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description and accompanying illustration which represent one manner in which the invention has been successfully practised and the invention will then be more definitely pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a side elevation of a shoe having a rubber sole and a rubber heel tread attached to the shoe bottom by a connected s'eam formed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the in vention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, partly in section, illustrating the manner of forming the scam in the attachment o the sole to the shoe;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional View along theline of the seam illustrating one step in its formation;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 3 and illustrating a further step in the process of forming the seam.

In the illustrated method of practising the invention the shoe is of the McKay sewed type consisting of a shoe upper 2, an insole 4, a middle or slip sole 6 and. an outsole S. The outsole 8, which is of rubber or fiber material, is secured to the shoe by a seam of connected fastenings comprising a continuous strand of thread 10 extending along the margin of the tread surface of the outsole and a series of individual wire staples 12 straddling the thread 10 and anchoring a looped portion 14 of the thread to the tap sole and the insole 4. In making this seam a staple forming and inserting machine, such as shown in'Patent No. 1,016,930 granted Feb. 13, 1912, on application of IV. H. Borden is preferably employed.

The staples 12 which are to be used in making the seam to attach the outsole 8 should be only of such width as to enable them successfully to straddle the thread 10 both for the purpose of minimizing the size of the hole made by the insertion of the staple and to prevent the staples from interfering withthe flexibility of the shoe. It will'be found desirable, however, under certain conditions, as for example in attaching a fiber tread 16to the heel 18 of the shoe, to use comparatively wider staples, as shown in In the use of the machine, such as above identified, in the formation of this scam the driving passage or nozzle 20 of the machine may conveniently be formed as illustrated in Fig. 2 so as to provide a slot 22 in its lower end extending in the direction of the, feed of the work through which slot the thread 10 is fed, and in order to cause the staples to straddle the thread successfully, the'machine also is arranged to insert the staples at substantially right angles to the direction of the seam. The shoe is supported for the operation of the machine on the horn 24, the tip of the horn being provided with a clenching cavity to clench the ends of the successivestaples as they are driven in the formation'of the seam. Since the staples 12 are preferably driven nearly through the fiber outsole 8, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, it is necessary to allow suflicient slackness of thread 10 in advance of the insertion of the staple to enable the' staple to carry the thread through the sole and form the loop 14. For this purpose the machine is provided with a thread measuring finger 26 which, as shown, is pivoted at 27 to a bracket 28 mounted on the nozzle 20- and has suitable connections indicated at 29 on the rear end of the finger with operating mechanism of the machine to cause the forward end of the finger to engage the thread and raise 'itin the slot 22 a distance above the sole to supply the length of thread necessary to be drawn into the sole'by the insertion of the staple and form the loop 14 near the inner surface of the sole. The finger is arranged to yield during the staple inserting operation and near the completion of the insertion of the staple disengages itself from the thread as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

In the operation of the machine for making the seam to attach the sole to the shoe, the shoe is first positioned on the horn The machine then forms the staple 12 and drives it through the sole 8 and into the tap sole and insole. As the staple passes through the driver passage in the nozzle 20 it straddles the thread 10 which is taken up from the sole by the thread measuring finger 26 a. distance to provide the necessary length of thread for the staple to carry it partially through the sole and form the thread loop 14. As the staple is being inserted, the thread finger 26 moves downwardly with the staple into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4 so as to maintain the tension on the thread as it is drawn into the sole by the staple and to enable the loop 14 to be formed under the desired tension and before the completion of the insertion of the staple the thread disengages itself from the thread finger so that the portion of the thread lying on the surface of the sole and connecting successive loopholes may be drawn under propertension against the sole. Preferably the staple 12 is driven nearly through the sole as shown in the drawings'so that the thread loop 14 is formed near the inner surface of the sole 8-. By arranging the thread finger so that it takes up a length of the thread nearly equal to the thickness of the sole or the depth in the sole in which it is desired to locate the thread loop before the staple is driven, the necessity for the staple to ride along the thread until it is finally inserted with the consequent tendency of thread breakage during the insertion of the staples is entirely eliminated. It will be seen from the drawings that the thread loop 14, together with the bar or head of the staple 12, necessarily occupies more space in the loophole in the sole than the two strands of thread at the tread surface of the sole so that the thread loop is wedged in the sole and thus produces a very efficient and strong attachment of the sole to the shoe. The staples 12, throughout the forepart and shank where they attach the outsole to the shoe, are preferably clenched "on the horn tip as illustrated to increase their holding power. In attaching the heel tread 16 to the heel 18 wider than those used in the attaching of the sole 8 inasmuch as they do not pass through the entire heel and are consequently not clenched, the larger size of the staples making their holding power more effective.

Successive operations of the machine in sert a series of connected staples 12 and as each one of the loops of continuous thread 10 are locked in the shoe bottom by a staple independently of the loop either forwardly or rearwardly of it the loops constitute for all practical purposes individual sole attaching pegs and while the thread connection between the successive loops serve their purpose in the first instance, the wearing away of this portion of the thread during the wear.

of the shoe does not impair the holding effect of the seam. It is to be noted that the seam made in the manner described has all the advantages of a sewed seam as regards flexibility of the seam and elimination of metallic fastenings in the wearing portion of the sole and at the same time the seam offers the strength and durability characteristic of a seam of metallic fastenings. Moreover, in the attachment of an outsole of the non-fibrous character, as rubber soles to shoes, it was heretofore impossible to attach the sole with anything but a sewed seam thus necessitating the employment of a sewing machine. A seam, however, such as above described, may conveniently be made with any of the ordinary staple inserting machines which have a very low operating and upkeep cost. Consequently this seam has particular utility for repairing shoes in which rubber soles are to be attached.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in the art of attaching soles to shoes which consists in forcing successive loops of a continuous strand into the shoe bottom and anchoring the loops to an underlying portion of the shoe by metallic fastenings inserted through the loopholes and straddling the loops of the strand.

2. That improvement in the art of attach ing shoe bottoms to shoes which consists in forming a connecting seam between the shoe bottom and an underlying portion of the shoe by forcing successive connected loops of a strand partially through the shoe bottom from its outer surface and anchoring the loops by metallic fastenings inserted through the loopholes and across the loops into an underlying portion of the shoe.

3. That improvement in the art of attaching a fiber sole to an insole of a shoe which consists in forcing successive loops of a thread into the sole from the tread side and anchoring the loops to the insole by staples which straddle the loops and are clenched on the inner side of the insole.

4. That improvement in the art of attaching fiber soles to shoes which consists in forcing successive loops of a continuous strand of thread into the sole by metallic fastenings and anchoring the loops to the underlying portion of the shoe by clenching the fastenings.

5. That improvement in the art of attaching fiber soles to shoes which consists in forcing successive loops of a continuous strand of hot waxed thread into and partially through the fiber sole by staples disposed transversely of the sole and anchoring the loops to the underlying portion of the shoe bottom by clenching the staples.

6. That improvement in the art of attaching tread pieces to shoes which consists in forcing a loop of a continuous strand into the treadpiece, anchoring the loop to an un derlying portion of the shoe bottom by a metallic fastener inserted through the loophole from the tread side, measuring off a portion of the strand sufliciently longer than the stitch interval to cause said portion of the strand to be tightened over the surface of the tread piece while the next loop is forced into the tread piece, forcing the said next loop into the tread piece and anchoring it as described and repeating said steps to form a tread piece fastening seam.

7. That improvement in the art of attaching a tread piece to a shoe which consists in successively inserting staples into a tread piece, disposing a continuous strand in position for the staple to straddle the strand and carry a portion of it partially through the sole as an incident to the passage of the staple into the tread piece and clenching the staple in the portion of the shoe underlying the tread piece.

8. That improvement in the art of attaching soles to shoes which consists in forcing successive loops of a continuous strand partially through the sole from the tread side and then anchoring the loop in the sole by a metallic fastening driven through the loophole and adapted to spread the strands of the loop in the loophole without enlarging the loophole on the tread surface of the sole.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FRED N. LA CHAPELLE. 

